Sheriff Al Lamberti: I have to look at moving on

When voters went to the polls six weeks ago, there seemed to be only one unbeatable candidate in Broward County. And Sheriff Al Lamberti knew it.

Along with the power of incumbency, Lamberti had more money than the opponent he defeated four years earlier, nearly every endorsement that mattered, and advisors who repeatedly told him, "Of all the races, the one we're most sure of is yours,'" Lamberti recalled.

As Lamberti this week boxes up the mementos of a 35-year career with a single law enforcement agency, he acknowledged the shock of defeat that lingers still. "Numb," he said of the feeling that gripped him Nov. 6 as he and his wife Holly drove to what was to be a gala celebration at the Signature Grand in Davie. "It kind of caught me by surprise."

At 58, after spending his entire working life as a cop, the last five as sheriff, Lamberti is unemployed. He will officially leave office at midnight on Jan. 7, when former Fort Lauderdale cop Scott Israel takes command of almost 6,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $600 million.

"Now I have to look at moving on," he said. "He is going to be the sheriff of Broward County and I'm not. It's going to be a difficult adjustment."

Although nominally in charge until then, Lamberti realized his tenure effectively ended with the final count that showed Israel winning 53 percent of the 725,599 votes cast. "My wife and I were home watching a movie the other weekend, and my cell phone was there on the table beside me as usual," he said. "But it wasn't ringing."

By his own election post-mortem, Lamberti lost because he was a Republican in a heavily-Democratic county, beseiged by negative attacks. "I was always told, politics is a dirty business," he said, referring to ads that portrayed him as a profligate spender of taxpayer money and a pal of convicted felons.

Lamberti admits his campaign went negative, too, when supporters posted You Tube videos and passed out materials that accused Israel of being an adulterer and a dirty cop.

Foes such as Broward commissioner Barbara Sharief suggest that Lamberti was defeated because he had become "cocky and arrogant" and had recently focused more on reelection than serving the community. "If he feels like the all-mighty, you can't even ask him a question," said Sharief.

Others credit Lamberti with restoring morale and professionalism in the wake of predecessor Ken Jenne's 2007 arrest on corruption charges.

He is also given credit for shutting down pill mills, pushing for hate crime legislation after several brutal attacks on the homeless, and starting the Gun Squad, which tracks illegal firearms and traffickers.

Charles Zelden, a professor of history who specializes in politics and voting at Nova Southeastern University, said Lamberti "could have been sheriff for life" had he become a Democrat. "He personally wasn't voted out of office," said Zelden. "He lost because he was a Republican."

Lamberti said he remained in the GOP because"I was trying to raise awareness that this is not a partisan position.''

Sean Foreman, a political scientist at Barry University, said Lamberti was able to narrowly defeat Israel in 2008 because he was a veteran law officer in a department left unmoored by a politician. But four years later, said Foreman, "his tenure may have started to wear thin among the department and with the commission."

Of the 17 men who have served as Broward sheriff, Lamberti is the only one to have come up through the ranks. He joined BSO as a detention officer and went on to work road patrol, organized crime and training. He also served stints as interim chief of police in Hollywood and North Lauderdale.

As a deputy, he never fired his weapon, but he was shot at after responding to a domestic violence call while assigned to road patrol.

His darkest moments as sheriff came when deputies were slain, or "when talking to mothers who lost children to a prescription drug overdose," he said. "That was sobering."

Lamberti never did call Israel to congratulate him. "I'm still waiting for him to call me from 2008," he said.

He has been coy about his future plans, other than to say he wants to spend more time with his son and his wife, who recently retired from the postal service.

But soon after his election defeat, he called the man who named him interim sheriff five years ago: Charlie Crist.

"I just wanted to thank him," said Lamberti. "He said, 'Don't feel bad; I lost an election too. I'm a better person for it, and you will be too.'"